A House Divided
June 10, 2012
Mark 3:20-35
In 1858, the Illinois state Republican convention nominated a 49-year-old lawyer as their
candidate for U.S. Senator. He went on to lose the election.
In his speech accepting the nomination, however, the candidate made the following observation
on the deepening problem presented by slavery: “In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis
shall have been reached and passed.”
And then, as was common in the oratory of that day, Abraham Lincoln illustrated his political
point of view with a text from the Bible: “‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’“
Three years before the shots fired at Fort Sumter decisively split this country in two, the man
who would become president foresaw the dangerous divide ahead.
As Lincoln’s future speeches and writings would make clear, the crisis dividing the nation was
not only political or economic in nature – it was also a spiritual crisis.
Lincoln’s quote comes from the very heart of our text from Mark. It is difficult, given Lincoln’s
memorable use of it, to read these words without hearing within them the great tragedy they
recall in our history.
An era in which human beings were enslaved for life. An era in which families were torn down
the middle. An era in which, to our great shame, the churches of this nation split even more
deeply and certainly more lastingly than the political disunion.
After four years, the states of the Confederacy returned to the Union. Not so with the churches.
Northern and Southern Baptists, northern and southern Presbyterians, northern and southern
Methodists.
The divisions fomented by the Civil War lingered in divided communions and competing
ministries for nearly a century afterward. “A house divided against itself . . .”
When Jesus first uttered these words, his intent was not to provide Abraham Lincoln with a good
quote. There were divisions in Jesus’ own time and life that begged addressing. Indeed, this
whole text from Mark is framed by two critical divisions, for which the “house divided” text
stands at the core.
But as we go through these, let me call to your attention one crucial point. Divisions alone are
not the problem. Division implies difference, and there is no way on God’s green earth to
eliminate all differences.
-2The problem as Jesus poses it is self-destructive division: a kingdom divided against itself, a
house divided against itself. Divisions in and of themselves are not the crisis. The crisis comes
when differences give rise to hostility.
The first destructive division underlying this text involves certain scribes coming from
Jerusalem. The scribes were something of a hybrid between teachers and lawyers. As their name
indicates, scribes were trained in the written word.
As caretakers of the Law of Moses or Torah, the scribes were held in an honor comparable to the
priests of temple. And as the Torah guided all aspects of Jewish life, the scribes came to hold
prominent positions as those who could read and interpret the Torah’s meaning for the
community.
The scribes were leaders and defenders of the Jewish religious system. As such, when a text like
ours indicates that scribes came down from Jerusalem and said of Jesus, “He’s possessed by
Satan; that’s how he does all these things” – those are serious charges are made by serious
people.
The scribes spoke, and were heard, as authoritative voices. Jesus responds to that charge initially
with the “house divided against itself, or divided by civil war” as the NLT puts it, insight. But to
what house is Jesus referring?
Mark prefaces Jesus’ words by saying he “spoke in parables.” The literal meaning of the ensuing
parable is that Jesus could not exorcise demons by Satan’s authority, because that would pit
Satan against himself.
Satan’s would be the “house divided against itself,” were Jesus his co-worker. So Jesus argues
his exorcisms are not Satanic as the scribes charged, but of God.
But there is another house divided against itself here: the house of Judaism. Jesus’ first mission
was to the people of Israel. Jesus lived and worshiped as a Jew. The style and content of his
teaching was grounded in Judaism.
There were differences of interpretations, to be sure – but the scribes differed among themselves,
as did the Pharisees. Crisis came, and crucifixion eventually resulted, when divisions within the
community became divisions against the community.
Disagreements over healings and exorcisms became accusations of Satanic influence.
Disagreements over teachings and Sabbath became condemnations of heresy and of blasphemy.
What might have happened if the religious leaders had adopted a different attitude toward Jesus?
What if the “better for one man to die than the whole nation perish” rationale had been replaced
by “if this plan is of human origin it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to
overthrow them – you may even be found fighting against God.”
-3I sometimes shudder when we in the church define differences among us as divisions against one
another rather than divisions among one another.
Certainly there may be times and issues when stands should be taken and lines may need to be
drawn. But I have seen a certain smugness and self-righteousness afflicting many who suggest
such stands and draw such lines too quickly and rigidly.
Because all too often, the lines conform uncannily to the sides we take. We are always the one
with the right opinions, the right lifestyles – they, whoever they happen to be defined as, are the
ones outside the pale of grace.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. What will God have to say to us if we take what are
simply differences among us and transform them into divisions pitting us against them?
Curiously, here on a Sunday falling between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, the second division
in this text involves Jesus’ own family.
At the beginning and at the end of this text, Jesus’ family stands close by. It is not the closeness
of support, however – but the closeness of fear.
Word spread that Jesus has gone out of his mind, and “when his family heard it, they went out to
restrain him.” That word may also be translated as they went out to overcome or seize him. A
more contemporary expression might be to de-program him.
It is, as I said, curious timing that places the church’s consideration of this text between the two
holidays most directly linked to family. For here is a text where divisions within the family serve
as a foil to Jesus’ ministry.
The crisis arises, not in the existence of these differences, but in the attempted reining in of the
prodigal, who in this case happens to be Jesus. It is a destructive division repeated too frequently
in other families.
Differences within families are part and parcel of the normal landscape of things. How often
have we marveled at how different two children of the same parents are? How often have we
doled out the old advice about how “opposites attract”? If differences are allowed to complement
and balance each other, equilibrium is possible.
But where differences are rooted out and squelched in the name of conformity, divisions within
become divisions against.
Martin Luther, the great leader of the Protestant Reformation, was driven and cajoled and
bullied by his father to become a lawyer. His decision to enter the priesthood was viewed with
shame and disappointment.
-4I had a friend and roommate in college – in fact, he is still a close friend – who struggled with
this issue to the point that it almost ruined his life.
When he got to Chapel Hill he had just come out of the Marine Corps. He had been through
Paris Island, the whole bit, and was ready to settle down and begin preparing for a career.
He had been an excellent musician in high school, and wanted nothing more than to have a
career in music, maybe as a teacher and performer, but in any case deeply involved in music.
Unfortunately for him, though, his parents had other ideas. They had been pushing him for a long
time into dentistry. He didn’t want to be a dentist, but for reasons which I don’t think he or any
of us fully understood, he was giving it a shot.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, he flunked first semester chemistry, a prerequisite for
any medical-related program, took it again and barely passed, then flunked second semester
chemistry – twice, and by then he was so confused and flustered that he flunked everything else
and of course flunked out of school, lost his fiancée, hopped from odd job to odd job, had a son
with a – shall we say – less than stellar woman who took the child and disappeared and my
friend has not seen him to this day.
The story did have a somewhat happy ending, which maybe I’ll talk about some time, but for so
many years his life was a living hell because he tried to be what someone else wanted him to be.
Now maybe you think that’s a somewhat extreme example. Maybe so, but I’ve seen a lot of that
type of thing.
The fact is that families that push children – or spouses – to fit into molds or conform to their
own wishes risk outcomes that undermine the alleged priority of family unity: children that
eventually make permanent breaks, rather than simply test their wings and find their own way;
spouses that throw up their arms in frustration and head for greener, and freer, pastures.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. Or, as in Jesus’ case, a house divided against itself
results in the formation of a new house. Remember the ending of the narrative? Having dealt
with the scribes one final time, the family of Jesus is back, looking for their wayward son.
But what does Jesus say when he is told his family is outside asking for him? “Who are my
mother and my brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is
my brother and sister and mother.”
When one house falls in destructive division, another is apt to rise in its place. When the family
of Jesus came seeking to restrain him, Jesus responded with the announcement of a new family.
A family made, not by claims of common biological ancestor, but by adherence to the will of
God.
-5Likewise, when the religious “family” of Jesus represented in the scribes came seeking to
denounce him, Jesus responded with the creation of a new family. A family made, not by claims
of a common theological ancestor in Abraham, but by adherence to the will of God.
The crowd recognized Jesus as God’s anointed one. Jesus family and church leaders were still
not so sure. Their uncertainties led to divisive opinions. Satan was trying to drive a wedge into
the church. This is still Satan’s powerful weapon of delusion that he uses today.
Churches are made up of many people from many and varied backgrounds. Satan tries to use
divisiveness to bring down Christ’s church. Arguments and divisions about doctrine and beliefs
are bad enough, but even when there is agreement in doctrine, Satan will use attacks on
personalities.
We look at others and see only their faults, their shortcomings and forget we are not better. We
may even be moved to bring false charges against one another. How destructive is the working
of evil amidst God’s family!
And that evil doesn’t stop with trying to disrupt the believers’ life inside the church. It has the
whole world at its disposal to try and divide the believer from his faith. The world and
everything in it are mighty big temptations that each of us face every day. In our struggle for
survival we at times forget that God has promised to take care of us.
We are members of God’s family. What did Jesus say? “Whoever does the will of God is my
brother and my sister,”
Ah, the will of God. I know that people have different ideas about just what that is. Some think
that God’s will includes what we do for a living, whom we marry and many other specifics of
life. Sadly, I have even seen fights break out in churches because some were convinced that it
was God’s will for the bathroom to be painted blue.
I’m not here to debate those points. I simply call your attention to what Jesus was pretty clear
about when asked about God’s will. ‘It is to love God and love people,” he said. If we do those
two things, everything else just naturally falls into place.
We sing a song at the end of our worship – “we are one in the spirit….and they’ll know we are
Christians by our love” Are we? Do they?
Being Christian doesn’t mean giving up your individuality. We will always have legitimate
differences. But Christ calls us to keep them within ourselves, not against ourselves.
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” In the doing of that will, as
diverse as we may otherwise be, is the foundation upon which this house called church stands.